1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus for automatically printing image data shot by a photographic device such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera and recorded in a recording medium.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, the market is expanding for imaging devices such as a digital still camera and a digital video camera, which are capable of recording a high-quality digital still image on a nonvolatile memory card. Meanwhile, demands and applications for not only viewing on a television monitor or a personal computer but converting to a hard-copy print the digital still image recorded in the digital still camera and the digital video camera are increasing. Under such circumstances, many printing apparatuses employing various printing types such as a sublimation type, a heat transfer type and an ink jet type, which read digital still images from a memory card so as to record the digital still images on a recording paper sheet are put on the market.
In accordance with automatic print setting files for setting desired digital still images to be printed and print quantities of the desired still images, which are formulated in the memory card, these known printing apparatuses automatically print the desired digital still images in order to print the desired digital still images easily. Alternatively, some of the known printing apparatuses may have an automatic print function of automatically printing, in case the automatic print setting files are not formulated in the memory card, all the digital still images recorded in the memory card.
FIG. 5 shows a conventional printing apparatus. The conventional printing apparatus includes a memory card 1, a memory card control unit 2 for performing read-write of the memory card 1, a power source 3, an image memory 6 for storing image data recorded in the memory card 1 and a control unit 4 for controlling recording of digital still images in the image memory 6 and controlling automatic print so as to continue or stop the automatic print by judging whether or not a detected remainder of a battery capacity enables printing. The conventional printing apparatus further includes an operating unit 5, a print engine 7 for printing the data of the image memory 6 and a thermal head 8.
FIG. 3 shows one example of a configuration of a directory recorded in the memory card 1. The directory includes digital still images 13 to 18 and folders 11 and 12 for storing the digital still images 13 to 18. Meanwhile, FIG. 4 shows one example of automatic print setting files 19 to 22 recorded in the memory card 1. The automatic print setting files 19 to 22 correspond to the digital still images 13 to 16, respectively. In the automatic print setting files 19 to 22, the descriptions “PRT PID=001” and “PRT PID=002” denote JOB numbers, while the description “PRT PID=STD” denotes output of one digital still image to one recording paper sheet. Meanwhile, the descriptions “PRT QTY=1” and “PRT QTY=3” denote a print quantity of one sheet and a print quantity of three sheets, respectively, while the description “IMG FMT=EXIF2-J” designates a recording format of the images. Furthermore, the description <IMG SRC=“../DCIM/100CDPFP/IMGA0001.JPG”> of the automatic print setting file 19 designates the digital still image 13, the description <IMG SRC=“../DCIM/100CDPFP/IMGA0002.JPG”> of the automatic print setting file 20 designates the digital still image 14, the description <IMG SRC=“../DCIM/100CDPFP/IMGA0003.JPG”> of the automatic print setting file 21 designates the digital still image 15 and the description <IMG SRC=“../DCIM/100CDPFP/IMGA0004.JPG”> of the automatic print setting file 22 designates the digital still image 16.
Hereinafter, operation of the conventional printing apparatus is described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 5. By operating the operating unit 5 so as to turn on the power source 3, the control unit 4 delivers to the power source 3 a command for turning on the power source 3. When an AC adapter is connected to the power source 3, power is supplied to the power source 3 from the AC adapter. When only a battery is connected to the power source 3, power is supplied to the power source 3 from the battery. Subsequently, the control unit 4 detects whether or not the memory card 1 in which the automatic print setting files and the digital still images are recorded is connected to the memory card control unit 2. If the control unit 4 has detected that the memory card 1 is connected to the memory card control unit 2, the memory card control unit 2 reads the memory card 1 and the control unit 4 judges whether or not the automatic print setting files 19 to 22 are recorded in the memory card 1. In case the control unit 4 has judged that the automatic print setting files 19 to 22 are recorded in the memory card 1, the control unit 4 reads from the memory card 1 data of the digital still image 13 designated by the automatic print setting file 19 and expands the data of the digital still image 13 into image information so as to store the image information in the image memory 6. Upon delivery of a print command from the control unit 4 to the print engine 7, the print engine 7 supplies the image information of the image memory 6 to the thermal head 8 through pulse signals such that the digital still image 13 is printed on one sheet in accordance with the description “PRT QTY=1” in the automatic print setting file 19. Thereafter, automatic print of the digital still images 14 to 16 is likewise performed in accordance with the automatic print setting files 20 to 22, respectively. Thus, the automatic print of the digital still images 13 to 16 is completed.
On the other hand, in case the control unit 4 has judged that the automatic print setting files 19 to 22 are not recorded in the memory card 1, the conventional printing apparatus outputs one print of the digital still images 13 to 18. Alternatively, if the conventional printing apparatus has a function of setting a plurality of prints by a print quantity setting menu or the like, the conventional printing apparatus may output a plurality of prints of each of the digital still images 13 to 18.
However, in the conventional printing apparatus, automatic print in which power is supplied to the power source 3 from the battery might be interrupted in a run-down state of the battery. In such a case, even if print can be performed subsequently by connecting the recharged battery or the AC adapter to the power source 3, the automatic print cannot be resumed subsequently to a printing stage attained at the time of interruption of the automatic print. Therefore, an operator of the conventional printing apparatus should confirm up to which printing stage the automatic print has been completed. In case set data of completed printing has been erased from the automatic print setting files or print quantities have been set, the operator has to confirm that the set print quantities and the completed print quantities are correct. If the set print quantities and the completed print quantities are not correct, the operator should perform resetting of the automatic print setting files by resetting the print quantities, etc.
Meanwhile, in case the automatic print has been interrupted when the automatic print setting files are not recorded in the memory card, some of the digital still images, whose printing has been completed, should be erased from the memory card.
Therefore, in case the automatic print has been interrupted in the conventional printing apparatus, such a problem as very poor operating efficiency arises due to the necessity for resetting of the automatic print setting files or erasure of the digital still images from the memory card.
In such a case, it is needless to say that the automatic print can be performed again from an initial printing stage without taking any countermeasures. However, in this case, already outputted prints become useless disadvantageously.